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Vietnam updates

MAG ends teachers' unexploded ordnance worries
The teachers at Hai Thai Primary School No.2 in Quang Tri province used to worry about their students. Not that they might fail their exams, but that they might be injured or killed whilst playing in the playground. (24 February 2010)

Proceeds from MAG music festival destroy 300 bombs
Money raised by April's MAG Music Festival has been used to clear 300 items of unexploded ordnance from Quang Binh Province. (6 January 2010)

MAG Vietnam celebrates 10-year anniversary
Since November 1999, MAG has cleared more than seven million square metres of land, benefitting thousands of people still threatened by lethal remnants of a war that ended more than three decades ago. (25 November 09)

Work resumes quickly after the typhoon
Despite the heavy impact of typhoon Ketsana on operations and staff in Quang Binh and Quang Tri, MAG contributed to the relief effort and resumed clearance operations just a few days afterwards. (21 October 09)

Blog: Meeting the wife of a cluster bomb victim
By Bui Xuan Hoang, Mine Action Team Supervisor – Quang Binh project
"Working in a moibile team, I’ve had a lot of chances to meet various people in many areas. But I won’t forget the face of Ms Pham Thi Vy, as she told me about losing her husband..." (16 September 09)

A shortage of everything – except big bombs
MAG safely removed three big bombs in one of the poorest provinces of Vietnam, Quang Binh, in the space of just two weeks during August. (9 September 09)

Historic tunnel discovered during clearance operations
MAG staff have discovered a historic tunnel called Mu Giai 42 years after it was bombed. (13 August 09)

Blog: It was not the bombs that took our blood...
"In a small village located deep inside the huge Truong Son mountain range, it is not shocking to find 40 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) after only one week’s work... one piece of UXO for every family in the village..." (20 July 09)

First underwater bomb destroyed
MAG has demolished a 500-pound bomb that local fishermen found embedded in a coral reef at the seaside resort of Da Nhay in Quang Binh province, central Vietnam. (15 July 09)

MAG helps secure safety of UNESCO World Heritage site
Until recently communities in Nha-Ke Bang National Park could not access all the agricultural land they needed as it was heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance. (8 July 09)

MAG hosts delegation from Vietnamese government
MAG played host to four high-level members of the Vietnamese government today, in a visit key to the continued co-operation in clearing remnants of the American-Vietnam War. (22 June 09)

Download the May edition of the MAGazine
The quarterly news round-up from MAG's operations in Vietnam. MAG destroyed 2,430 items of unexploded ordnance in the first three months of 2009, benefitting more than 80,000 people. (19 May 09)

'Fantastic' music festival raises US$20,000
Ten bands and 11 DJs wowed the Hanoi crowd, raising funds which will be used to directly support MAG's work in Vietnam. (14 May 09)

MAG organises first nationals-only meeting
MAG is proud of the abilities of its national staff. Since MAG started work in Southeast Asia – in Cambodia in 1992 – the staff have become able to run the programmes with only very limited expatriate support. (7 April 09)

MAG Music Festival
Come to a fantastic benefit concert for mine and unexploded ordnance removal in Hanoi on 25 April, featuring live music and a non-stop DJ tent. (27 March 09)

Bomb on the beach
Removing unexploded ordnance from the grounds of luxury hotels is not MAG’s everyday work. But the discovery of a cluster bomb submunition at the construction site of a new beach resort in Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province, led to an emergency request to MAG to clear it. (10 March 09)

MAG in the media: 'Maginificent work' (from The Vietnam Nation)
"A convoy of two Land Cruisers, an ambulance and a large transport truck grinds to a dusty stop in front of a village headman's house in a remote northern Vietnam commune in Quang Binh Province just as the sun starts rising over the sleepy hamlet..." (27 February 09)

MAG honoured for its fight against poverty
MAG has been recognised by the Vietnamese government as one of the most proactive international non-governmental organisations in making practical contributions to poverty alleviation. (20 January 09)

Cluster munitions in Vietnam and Lao PDR: New era, old problem
The vast majority of unexploded ordnance (UXO)-related accidents in Southeast Asia occur when people are going about their everyday work. (8 December 08)

MAG's work to continue benefiting Quang Tri
MAG will continue to clear unexploded ordnance for the poorest communities in Quang Tri, under a new agreement signing with provincial authorities. (11 November 08)

Brother of mine accident survivor is top of the class
The 19-year-old brother of a UXO (unexploded ordnance)-related accident survivor and former scrap collector has become the most recent addition to MAG Vietnam's technical workforce after passing the demanding Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians Course. (4 November 08)

Community Liaison makes a big impact in Quang Binh
The introduction of a Community Liaison team has made an immediate impact on the efficiency of MAG's work to rid rural villages of items that pose an immediate danger to local communities. (11 August 08)

Partnership with government strengthened
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the Government of Vietnam meaning MAG can continue to deploy a minimum of four Mine Action Teams and two Community Liaison teams. (30 July 08)

American Ambassador visits Quang Tri operations
American Ambassador Michael W. Michalak joined MAG Chief Executive Officer Lou McGrath OBE on a visit to one of MAG’s Vietnam project sites on 23 July. (24 July 08)

MAG plays winning role at Southeast Asian Gaelic Games
Male and female teams from Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam have taken part in Vietnam's first ever Gaelic football tournament, with MAG supplying winners' plaques made out of wood, marble and half a cluster munition. (1 July 08)

Responding to the Tet Offensive legacy
Read a special report on the dangers faced by the population – 40 years on from this key phase of the Vietnam war – and how MAG is helping to combat them. (4 February 08)

Number of UXO removed in Vietnam reaches six figures
More than 100,000 landmines and items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) have been removed by MAG from two provinces since the organisation started humanitarian mine action in the country in 1999. (18 December 07)

Mobile Operations aid escape from poverty trap
MAG spent part of September in one of the more marginalised hamlets of Quang Binh province, to reduce the risk of injury or death from unexploded ordnance. (12 November 07)

Partnership for development in South East Asia
Working in partnership is central to MAG’s approach. Partnerships enable MAG to ensure a lasting and sustainable impact from our activities. (6 November 07)

Raising Children Under UXO Threat
One family in Quang Binh Province explains how MAG helped them look forward to building new and safer lives. (2 September 07)

Out of the Shadows in Quang Binh
MAG Vietnam’s Mine Action Team No. 2 (MAT 2), funded by Adopt-A-Minefield, spent all of July in Quang Hung Commune, destroying 318 items of unexploded ordnance. (23 August 07)

MAG on TV
A documentary team from Quang Tri TV filmed MAG operations, after broadcasting director Tran Dang read a newspaper article on female deminer Ms Ly. (28 April 06)

Mrs Ly's story
Four years have passed since Mrs Ly joined MAG and much of the local land is now tinted with green grass. (27 April 06)

Building a Future
In partnership with the Quang Tri Provincial Peoples Committee (PPC), MAG clearance work has enabled a new factory to open in the Hai Lang district. (1 February 05)

Clearing Charlie 1
In a little under three years of work, MAG teams have turned life around for 78 families: 300 people including 60 young children are now living in the village again, in safety. (1 June 04)

The Mine Action Team
The Mine Action Team (MAT) was innovated by MAG in the mid 1990s. The idea was to be able to adapt quickly and effectively to the needs of the local people under threat. (1 June 04)

The Ho Chi Minh Trail
In 2003 MAG started operations in Quang Binh Province, north of the DMZ. Quang Binh contains large stretches of the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail. (1 June 03)

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Vietnam

MAG Vietnam

Millions of tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Vietnam, with up to one third estimated to not have detonated. This still contaminates the ground, affecting as much as 20 per cent of the country.

The problem / How MAG is helping

The Tet Offensive legacy

This MAG photo gallery captures the effects 40 years on of this key phase of the Vietnam war in Quang Binh and Quang Tri.

Cycle Vietnam-Cambodia

470km from Ho Chi Minh City to Angkor Wat in Feb/March 2010

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Modelled here by Ian Brown, MAG t-shirts are available in black and olive. Printed front and back, the reverse lists some of the many countries affected by mines.

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